Flying Frenzy

It's been a flying frenzy this week! Over the past 7 days I've flown 4 days which is way more than I am used to! One of my trips was my long cross country flight requirement for commercial training. I am required to fly a 300+nm trip with 1 leg being 250 miles and landings at 3 airports. My trip went from Bowman field to KHKY- Hickory, North Carolina, then up to 0A9- Elizabethton, Tennessee, then to KTRI- Tri-Cities Regional, Tennessee, and finally back to Bowman. I was an exciting trip but at the same time not very eventful. My first leg was 253 miles to Hickory, NC. God surely provided for me throughout my trip and the first way was through clear skies (with a few clouds below and some turbulence) and through meeting someone in KHKY. I park at the FBO (Flight Based Operations office) go in there and check the weather and then see a young guy (about my age) sitting there waiting to go flying.
I ask him, "where you flying?", he responds- "oh just around the area, doing training for my commercial."... "oh me too", I said, "so what do you want to do with flying?",... "I want to be a missionary pilot", he responds... "NO WAY!!!!! I want to do that too!!!!" I exclaim. God sure puts surprises in your path especially when you least expect it! Here is this middle of nowhere airport that I pick to go to because it is 3 miles over the 250 mile minimum and near the area I was flying to, and God puts this guy, Colt Feimster, who is my age and doing exactly the same thing as me, right in my path to meet and connect with as a missionary.

Flight plan map: Tri- cities & Elizabethton are in Tennessee just southeast of the Virginia/ Tennessee/ Kentucky border. Hickory is in North Carolina, just south of the Tennessee/ North Carolina border.

On my next leg of my trip I stopped in Elizabethton, Tennessee- a tiny town which was once the headquarters for Moody Aviation (a missionary aviation school). I met with Jon Egeler and his wife Pam who are missionaries with MSI- Mission Safety International- a group dedicated to missionary flying safety (http://www.msisafety.org/index.htm). They have traveled all over the world doing safety audits and teaching pilots about new things they can do to be more safe. I got to talking about maps with him and he put me in contact with some people who work with missionaries and map making. I am hoping to begin working on a project that allows missionary pilots to have up to date aeronautical maps of the countries they are flying in. We will see where God leads me with that.

Sunlight rays shining down on God's beautiful creation!

One of the legs I flew went well but was slow! The leg usually takes about 1 hour 45 minutes but due to a headwind it took 2 hours and 15 minutes! On another part of my trip, I had to wait for a large storm system to pass. I ended up departing at the exact right time and flew through the last bits of the storm (mostly large clouds and rain) and then was racing another severe storm system. I landed with plenty of time before the storm hit and God protected me throughout the trip in many ways! I praise Him for His guidance for my life! Another thing I learned was how to fix the plane! I had a hard landing which caused a ring in the nose wheel seal to become damaged and thus making the nose wheel strut contract. I noticed that the nose was really low and the tail was really high. When I was back in Louisville I was able to help the mechanic fix the nose wheel and change the oil as well. It was a really interesting and exciting lesson to learn how to fix the nose wheel and get some hands on experience.

Getting ready to depart just after the storm had passed.

A couple more things before this blog gets too long. Towards the end of the week I went night flying and also got to take two of my friends, Cliff and Allan, up flying. We flew up to Madison, IN (~25miles north of Louisville) and just explore the area. It was neat to take up friends and I think they had a lot of fun. I also learned a lot about weight and balance of the aircraft. I was going to take up 3 friends but with all of us in the plane and with almost full tanks of fuel we were over maximum weight. So I decided that I will take my other friend, Rachel, another time. (Stay tuned for pictures from the  flight). Also, one more important thing! I almost forgot... with all this flying I made it to 200 flight hours!!! This is a major milestone in training and once I get to 250 hours I can take my commercial rating test. So onward and upward!

The next time I write a blog will probably be halfway through my trip or at the end of my trip. On Tuesday, we (my parents and I) depart for the Netherlands and South Africa for vacation and to visit family and missionaries. We will be traveling/ visiting family in the Netherlands and then meet up with Koos in South Africa and stay with family there. We will also be traveling to the Okavango delta in Botswana which will be a wonderful time to see God's creation. My parents will depart for home on July 15th and I will go to Lesotho then and spend time with the MAF missionaries there. I am super excited to see them again and I know God will bless my time there. 

I come back on July 26th, so until then... or maybe sometime in between.
Fly with Christ,
Helen

Lots to share!!!

God is so wonderful! He has been blessing me with so many thoughts and ideas and trips that I don't know where to begin!

Else and I after running Bolder Boulder 10km

But I'll start with Colorado. I got to go to Colorado to visit my sister and also house sit for her over the past 2 weeks. It was such a great time getting to hang out with her and Norm (Brother in law) and just enjoy some hard earned vacation.While I was there I got to go hiking, running and mountain flying! Else and I ran the Bolder Boulder 10km with 43000 other people! WOW That was a fun race even when it was tough.

Flying up the valley towards Leadville

The highlight of my trip was finally getting to land at the highest airport in North America- Leadville KLXV! Sitting at 9927ft the airport is nestled in the valley between the mountains. On previous trips to Colorado I went flying with an instructor from the local airport but each time the weather or wind prevented us from landing or going over the mountains. But I guess the third time is the charm. We planned to go on a Thursday but the winds were too strong already that it was not worth it to go so we decided to go on Friday.

Leadville!

Friday was perfect! Blue skies and some wind. We checked the weather periodically and the wind was gusty but we decided to go for it and if it was too windy at Leadville we would just go to an alternate airport (Buena Vista). On our way over the mountains we kept getting stuck in downdrafts. Nothing serious, we just couldn't get to the altitude that we needed to cross over the ridges at a safe altitude. A downdraft is when the wind is pushed up one side of the mountain and then crosses over the ridge and is goes down into the valley- like as if you were driving up a hill and then went down after getting to the top. So for us we could tell we were in one because we were descending. But the good thing is that we found some updrafts (opposite effect) which helped us to get a lot of altitude quickly. In flying it is way easier to lose altitude than to gain it, so any lift you can get... take it. We got over the ridges and then flew up the valley to Leadville. The automatic weather was saying it the wind was 10kts gusting to 20kts but the wind was along the runway which is what we needed. We decided to go for it and land! When we landed the wind was not too bad and we got down just fine. We got out of the plane, took some pictures, and took off again since the office was closed.

It was quite windy in Leadville!

Takeoff was even more exciting. On one end of the runway the wind was in the direction of the runway and at the other end it was a direct crosswind! That shows how much the wind can change in just a short distance. The other crazy thing with high altitude flying is that it takes a lot longer to get airborne because there is less "air" to lift up the plane. There is also density altitude which is where the plane thinks it is at a different altitude than it really is and therefore you have to calculate how much distance you need to take off. Basically, takeoff seems very slow and it takes awhile to get more altitude.

We flew down to Buena Vista, got some lunch in town, and then headed off to home. On our way back home we circled a few times over the airport to get enough lift (like birds do when they ride thermals) to go over the mountains and then we were good to go.

Circling after taking off from Buena Vista airport.

After flying I had a few days extra in Colorado and just spent that hanging out with Else and Norm. Back in KY I've been busy flying with my friend Mike (who is a pilot and works at Air Center 1) and working at a kids camp for 3 days. Right now I am at 189 hours! In less than two weeks I get to begin my trip to Holland, South Africa, Botswana, and Lesotho! I am super excited to see family and visit the MAF missionaries in Lesotho and work with them again. I am working on and finalizing a few maps for them now which will be basic maps of where the airstrips are so that they can take it with them in the planes.

God has been so gracious to me that all I can do is praise Him. He has given me the tools to share about Him and I am learning more and more how to use them and share about how He is leading me. Stay tuned for another blog with even more updates on adoption, missionary work, school, and other exciting things!




Fly with Christ,
Helen